Japan set to defend whaling in court

As Japan unequivocally backs it's whaling policy the Australian Government is under pressure to act on its threat to take legal action to stop the hunt. The Government says it still has faith in its diplomatic efforts.

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Japan has described an Australian Government decision to take it to court over its whaling program as "disappointing" and "regrettable", saying it will strongly defend its so-called scientific whaling program.

The Federal Government announced it will begin legal action next week in the International Court of Justice in the Hague, months ahead of the November deadline it set Tokyo to agree to stop whaling in the Antarctic.

Each year Japan kills hundreds of mainly minke whales in the Southern Ocean.

While Japan says it kills whales for science, its critics say it is a purely commercial venture aimed at providing whale meat to Japanese restaurants.

Japanese foreign ministry spokesman Hidenobu Sobashima has told ABC's PM program that it wants to resolve this dispute with Australia diplomatically.

"We hoped Australia would continue to engage in the negotiations as long as possible, either multilaterally or bilaterally, because we think it's important first to make every effort to resolve this issue diplomatically," he said.

"We regret Australia has decided to bring the issue of whaling to the International Court of Justice, when we are having negotiation in the ICC [International Criminal Court]."

Mr Sobashima says whaling may be a sticking point between the two allies, but Japan's relationship with Australia is not likely to be affected.

"As my foreign minister said, and the Australian minister also said, we feel the disagreement on the whaling issue shouldn't negatively affect the overall cordial and good relationship between the two countries."

However he says if Australia decides to bring the issue to the International Court of Justice, then Japan will be prepared to respond.

Federal Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith says the Government is confident it has made the right decision in taking Japan to court.

"In a court case there can be no guarantees," he said.

"But we are confident the decision we have made is an appropriate one to seek to achieve our objective, which is to end Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean."

Meanwhile, New Zealand is holding back from immediately supporting Australia's legal challenge.

The New Zealand government says it believes there is still room to make diplomatic progress before the International Whaling Commission meeting in Morocco next month.

It says it will decide in the next few weeks whether it will also file a legal case.